Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark Reviews
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark may not follow the plot of the movie Age of Extinction, but this is a game clearly rushed to coincide with the movie release.
I actually came into Rise of the Dark Spark with relatively high hopes. The "Cybertron" games have actually been quite good, and with the dawn of new console hardware, I was looking forward to seeing what was possible for my favourite robots in disguise. Sadly, what we got was a half-baked offering that was clearly put out to meet the movie's release date. As a long term fan, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is about as fun as having unnecessary surgery. The only thing that poses any form of saving grace is Peter Cullen's voice work, but if you're after that, there's plenty more Transformers content that you could be watching.
Rise of the Dark Spark is a fun but flawed third-person shooter that ultimately fails to live up to its lineage.
If you loved the first Transformers games, odds are you'll also like this one. If you liked Michael Bay's movies, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is worth a shot. But if you're expecting a redeeming experience, this is not it.
There's fun to be had in Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, but it's a dialed-in action shooter game, which is a mistake since there was never a chance that this game would compete with the big budget games in the genre. Titles such as Destiny, Call of Duty, or Titanfall will all trounce this game and ensure that no one but the most dedicated fan will care about it in the near future. It would be to the benefit of the franchise if future games stopped trying to swim with the sharks.
With a dull campaign that likes to stab you in the eye with difficulty spikes, the online team survival mode just about saves this latest tie-in effort from being a complete write-off. But you'll probably have to be a (slightly nuts) hardcore fan to pay full whack for it. It's ok, I don't think Michael Bay makes any money on this one.
'Rise of the Dark Spark' might not reinvent the wheel in terms of third-person 'Transformers' action, in fact, in some cases it regresses, but it does offer up moments of sheer bliss, most notably its final act. Sadly, that's a very short portion of a game that feels much longer than the five to six hours I invested in my first campaign run-through. Add to that mediocre graphics and a wasted opportunity in multiplayer territory, and you have a game only for the most loyal Autobot or Decepticon supporter. Let us hope the battle surrounding Cybertron picks up where it left off and the next title restores the Transformers videogame legacy to its mark of high praise.
While the title attempts to do right by Cybertron fans, it ends up making a mess of things. The core gameplay isn't bad, nor is the structure of the game itself, but it is simply boring. Mix boring with the game's technical flaws and there's not much to love about Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark.
Starting off weak and getting not only worse, but extremely tiresome due to repetitive gameplay and some horrendously awkward controls, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark smacks of a cheap attempt to cash-in on the new movie release, not even properly linking to the feature film for those awaiting its release or tying various story threads together from the previous movie and game releases. The mess of a story definitely extends to being a mess of a game. It is simply cynical and bound to leave a bad taste in even the greatest of fans' mouths, this is undeserving of the Transformers name.
Still, there's something to be said for small pleasures. Clicking the left joystick to make my teenage rave robot transform filled me with the same sense of glee I felt when playing with these toys as a kid. Inasmuch as a game might be an exercise in nostalgia, Dark Spark brought those toys to life. Being a robot that can transform into different shapes and use cartoony weapons to blow up other robots is fun, and maybe story is unnecessary for this kind of play. Sometimes, all you need is for neon strobes, dry ice machines and deep house bass to blast your senses into joyful oblivion.
The combination of repetitive gameplay, pacing and story issues in relation to the Earth/Cybertron dynamic and the absence of almost any new ideas will result in Rise of the Dark Spark finding itself being forgotten in the not too distant future. In the vocally distorted words of Bumblebee… "[Sad bleeps]". Sad Bleeps indeed.
Rise Of The Dark Spark feels rushed: a mess of half-baked ideas and sloppy execution that's put Transformers on the same track as the Spider-Man games, approaching the point of no return. We can't be certain as to why Activision seems so intent with steering these wonderful properties so deeply into the dirt, but we hope it realises the value in the brands before it's too late. passable co-operative mode aside, there's very little to recommend out of Rise Of The Dark Spark.
As a next-gen title, Transformers Rise of the Dark Spark is an embarrassment
Although it feels like more than a mere movie tie-in, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark still isn't a good enough game to stand on its own. Those who buy it will likely be most interested in seeing giant robots doing battle with other giant robots, and though it will deliver on this it won't do so with sufficient fun to make it particularly interesting. Add to that the lacklustre nature of its other elements, and it is barely worth investing the six or seven hours required to complete it.
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is an insultingly overt cross-marketing bid that isn't worth your time.
While the Escalation mode remains as fun as ever, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is nothing more than a cheap rush job that boasts poor graphics, boring gameplay and a borderline incoherent story.
Some solid action can't cover up the fact that Rise of the Dark Spark feels horribly rushed, with massive splotches of shoddy design and a poor plot evident from the opening cinematic to the end credits.
The last few Transformers video games bucked the trend of subpar licensed products, instead giving us the Transformers games we always wanted as kids. Perhaps the PlayStation and Xbox versions of Rise of the Dark Spark are just as high-quality as their predecessors, but on Wii U, Rise of the Dark Spark is everything Nintendo fans have come to loathe about movie tie-ins and multiplatform gaming: a lazy port with missing features that treats Nintendo players like second-class citizens.
If you've just gone to see Age of Extinction and really want to play an awesome Transformers game, High Moon's past efforts are all you should even consider going for. Leave this pile of scrap out to rust until someone comes along to polish the franchise up again.